1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a projector-type vehicle lighting apparatus that employs a semiconductor light source such as a light emitting diode (LED) as a light source, and more particularly, to a vertical projector-type vehicle lighting apparatus with a capability of decreasing a depth dimension in the horizontal direction.
2. Description of the Related Art
Vehicle lighting apparatuses of this type are already known (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-107955). In a conventional vehicle lighting apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-107955, a light from an LED of a light source is reflected by a reflector and a reflected light is emitted forward via a convex lens. The reflector has an elliptical reflection surface. The LED is located at or in the vicinity of a first focal point of the elliptical reflection surface. A second focal point of the elliptical reflection surface is located at or in the vicinity of a focal point of the convex lens. The light axis of the elliptical reflection surface and the light axis of the convex lens coincide with each other, forming a horizontal surface. The LED, the reflector, and the convex lens are arranged in a horizontal direction. The conventional vehicle lighting apparatus has a large depth dimension in the horizontal direction because the light axis of the elliptical reflection surface and the light axis of the convex lens are forms the horizontal surface, and the LED, the reflector, and the convex lens are arranged in the horizontal direction.
Vehicle lighting apparatuses (vehicle headlamps) in which a longitudinal length is shortened (the depth dimension in the horizontal direction is decreased) using a planar reflection surface are also known (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-228715). a conventional vehicle lighting apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-228715 uses a discharge bulb as a light source, instead of a semiconductor light source such as an LED. Moreover, in this conventional vehicle lighting apparatus, the light axis of a projection lens extends in an anteroposterior direction of a vehicle (the horizontal direction), and the light axis of the reflector is configured to intersect with the light axis of the projection lens, by which the reflected light from the reflector is reflected to the projection lens side by a planar reflection surface. Therefore, for this conventional vehicle lighting apparatus, since the discharge bulb, the reflector, the projection lens, and the planar reflection surface are arranged in the vehicle longitudinal direction, the depth dimension in the horizontal direction is great like the above-described vehicle lighting apparatuses.
Thus, the conventional vehicle lighting apparatuses have a problem in that the depth dimension in the horizontal direction is great.